Notts County look to have discovered much-needed trait on Carlisle United evidence: View | OneFootball

Notts look to have discovered a defensive steel that they didn't have last season after an impressive showing away at Carlisle United.

Key Takeaways

Notts County demonstrated their new-found defensive steel on Tuesday night with a solid 2-0 win away at Carlisle United.

A dominating first half performance sent Stuart Maynard’s side into the half-time break with a two-goal lead thanks to goals from Alassana Jatta and Scott Robertson.

The Magpies showed grit and character in abundance and defended superbly in the latter stages as the home side piled on the pressure, making several impressive interventions to ensure their clean sheet remained intact.

It was the kind of victory that they likely wouldn’t have got last season and really served to highlight the drastic improvement Notts have made in the defensive third of their pitch over the summer transfer window.

Notts’ backline were all outstanding

Tuesday night’s victory was a fantastic away performance from Notts, who dug deep and battled hard late on to ensure their first-half efforts got their just rewards.

Last season’s side conceded the third most goals in the entire top four leagues, with a sky-high tally of 86. A feature of that side was that if they came under prolonged pressure from the opposition, they often crumbled.

Last season, Notts failed to win on nine of the 27 occasions when they took the lead in League Two, meaning they squandered a third of their leads across the season, something which just isn’t good enough if you want to compete at the top end of the table.

This season however, that simply isn’t happening. The Magpies have taken the lead on four occasions so far in the 2024/25 campaign and on all four occasions, they’ve gone on to claim all three points.

There’s an increased steel to Notts this term and that was really highlighted in the defensive performance during the latter stages in Cumbria on Tuesday night.

The entire defensive unit were outstanding and ensured Notts secured a thoroughly deserved third clean sheet in nine games, a total which is already almost 50% of their tally from last season.

Alex Bass shone between the posts, making six saves, including an incredible stop in added time from Harrison Biggins’ well-struck volley, which prompted Notts boss Maynard to label him “the best goalie in the league by an absolute country mile” after the game.

The centre half trio of Matty Platt, Lewis Macari and Jacob Bedeau made ten, seven and six clearances respectively, the three highest totals in the game.

Bedeau was superb in the challenge, as Notts fans have become accustomed to seeing by now. The former Morecambe and Aston Villa man won eight of his 11 duels, the highest total of anyone on the pitch.

Meanwhile, Lewis Macari chipped in with a match-leading five-headed clearances, ensuring Notts dealt effectively with the crosses targeted towards substitute Charlie Wyke by the hosts.

Notts look like a very well-functioning unit

While Notts’ resolute defensive performance will rightly take a lot of credit, for the first hour they completely dominated their hosts. The passing football that they have become synonymous with saw them pull Carlisle apart on a number of occasions.

The positives for Maynard’s men are coming thick and fast at the minute. Kellan Gordon put in a terrific performance on his first league start for Notts, setting up Scott Robertson’s goal and, perhaps more crucially, completing 90 minutes for the first time this season.

Robertson, another man who has had his season disrupted by injury so far, capped his first start of 2024/25 with his first goal for the club.

Alassana Jatta marked his return to the side with a goal and now boasts a minutes per goal of just 89, one of the lowest in the entire league.

Meanwhile, Dan Crowley was at his creative best. The tricky midfielder created two chances, the most in the Notts side, had the most touches of anyone in the game with 106 and played the most accurate passes with 89. His performance was so impressive that he was even applauded off the pitch by the home fans when he was replaced late on.

Several players have started the season in impressive form and with the likes of Gordon, Robertson and Matty Palmer nearing full fitness, Maynard has a level of squad depth at his disposal that simply wasn’t there last season.

Many people wondered whether Notts would struggle for goals after they lost Macaulay Langstaff to Millwall in the summer, but so far, they haven’t struggled in front of goal at all – they’re already the league’s joint top scorers with 17 so far.